AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father received today in audience Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, with Bishop Enzo Dieci, auxiliary of Rome for the northern pastoral sector, and Fr. Battista Previtali, D.C., pastor of the parish of St. Andrew the Apostle, accompanied by a parish vicar.

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PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA TO HOLD PLENARY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 2001 (VIS) - The Pontifical Commission for Latin America will hold a plenary reunion in the Vatican from March 20 to 23 on the theme "Realities, Problems, Prospects and Pastoral Proposals regarding the New Evangelization, in the light of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation 'Ecclesia in America'," according to a communique released by the commission today.

An estimated 40 cardinals and bishops from the Roman Curia and Latin America are scheduled to attend the plenary, listening to reports and participating in dialogue. Each member is expected to deal with a specific theme taken from the exhortation. The current ecclesial situation in Latin America will be analyzed according to the orientations of the above-named papal document. Counselors and members of the commission will submit the pastoral questions they believe to be of great importance or urgency.

Final conclusions and recommendations will be drawn up and presented to the Holy Father, dicasteries of the Roman Curia and to episcopal conferences of Latin America.

On Friday, March 23 at 7:30 in St. Peter's Basilica at the tomb of Peter, there will be a concelebrated Eucharist. An audience with Pope John Paul will conclude the plenary.

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MESSAGE FOR HISPANIC-AMERICAN DAY

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 2001 (VIS) - Made public today was the text of the annual Message of the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on the occasion of Hispanic-American Day, which will be celebrated in the dioceses of Spain on March 4th, the first Sunday of Lent.

In the Message, dated January 6, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and Bishop Cipriano Calderon, vice-president of the same pontifical commission, write: "'Go ... to meet our brothers of America'. It is the appeal which the Spanish episcopate makes to the priests, men and women religious, and the laity of the nation for Hispanic-American Day."

"It is an initiative," the Message specifies, "in perfect harmony with what the Pope has repeated many times, each time with greater vigor, throughout the Jubilee Year."

Cardinal Re and Bishop Calderon expressed the hope that "Hispanic-American Day, at the dawn of the new millennium, will see in the Spanish priests and faithful the evangelizing impulse, looking to America as the 'Continent of Hope' which, evangelized in the last five centuries, has been transformed into an evangelizing continent, turning to Europe, Africa, and Asia."

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HOLY FATHER'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR MARCH

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father's general prayer intention for March is: "That, with the committed help of all believers, the scourge of poverty may come to an end, eliminating the intolerable social and economic inequality in the world."

His missionary intention is: "That the heroism of the Martyrs and of the 'Witnesses to the faith' who have been remembered during the Great Jubilee may spur all people to increase ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue."

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OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

VATICAN CITY, MAR 1, 2001 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Juan Piris Frigola, pastor of the "El Buen Pastor" parish, Valencia, Spain, as bishop of Menorca (area 701, population 71,131, Catholics 69,800, priests 53, religious 106), Spain. The bishop-elect was born in Cullera, Spain, in 1939, and ordained to the priesthood in 1963.

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